It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’ve
been, you absolutely have the power to change; to thrive rather than survive; to break free from the habits that hold you
back from optimal health.
You took a big step for your health and
well-being with the decision to have bariatric surgery. Bariatric surgery is an effective tool; a starting point; a beginning.
The Barix Clinics On Track program is for those who had surgery months or years ago and need a refresher to get back to the
habits that will help them reach their goals, but it is also for those who recently had surgery who want to maximize their
outcome from weight loss surgery. The On Track program will help you put in place habits that will support your weight loss
surgery.
Vision
Before you get started, you need to know where it is
that you want to end up. What is it that you hoped to achieve by having surgery and changing your behaviors? Is it a number
on the scale, the ability to do something your weight has hindered, a decrease in medications, the remission of a condition
or all of these things and more? Keeping a clear picture of your desired outcomes in the forefront of your mind can be a positive
force to help you through the day-to-day commitment of a healthy lifestyle. Write down your vision or create some type of
visual and place it somewhere you will see often.
Focus on the Positive
Our tendency is often to focus on the things in our lives that are not going right, clouding our
outlook. If we can instead learn to keep our thoughts focused on the positive aspects of our lives, those positive thoughts
will become more powerful and help us to move forward. So as you start down this road of improving your health and well-being,
be sure to focus on the good around you and in you.
Focus on being positive because the thoughts you think and the words you speak create your
experience.
Accept
Reality
Reaching your goals is not just going to happen. It is going to be work, sometimes hard work, for the rest of your
life. We live in a society where less than 1/3 of adults are able to maintain a healthy weight. That’s a pretty sobering
statistic. With the tool of weight loss surgery, you have the ability to be in that elite segment with all of the benefits
that accompany it—lower risk of debilitating diseases and a better quality and length of life. Being ready, willing
and able to work to make your dreams come true and to avoid that ever-present tendency to become complacent, settling for
less, are essential to your success.
Let’s
Get Started
What
To kick start the On Track program; track your food intake and
activity this week. No judgment, just track.
Why
The process of keeping a food and activity journal is very powerful and will arm you with valuable information that
you can build on. Here’s what you can expect to learn:
▪ The total number of calories you consume each day and the amount
of calories in the foods you select. If you’re anything like the rest of us, your tendency is to underestimate calories.
This exercise will provide you with a more accurate picture of your intake. It will also teach you the calorie content of
the individual foods you’re eating. It may be enlightening to find that you’re getting over 300 calories from
your nightly cheese and cracker snack. Don’t worry about meeting a specific calorie level this week; just get a baseline
by tracking what you are currently doing.
▪ If you’re meeting your protein goal
or not. The protein goal that you received at surgery is a good goal to stick with through the years.
▪ The size of your portions. If you need
to log it, you’ll need to measure to see how much you’re eating. A good thing to know.
▪
Identifying hidden (or
maybe not-so-hidden) sources of added sugar. The goal is to keep added sugars to 2 grams or less per serving.
▪
Situations where you
make not-such-healthy food choices. Is it a lack of planning that sends you speeding through the fast food lane, the donuts
in the break room calling your name or eating at your favorite restaurant that encourages less healthy food choices?
▪ You’ll be able to objectively look
at your baseline logs and then compare at the end of the On Track program. By tracking, you’ll become more aware of
what you eat and how much you actually do move throughout your day.
▪ You planned for 4 exercise classes this week, but how many times did
you really exercise. If you track steps, you may see how much sitting time you really have in your day.
How
There are more options than ever for tracking your food and activity.
Find the tracking method that works best for you and get started. Some options to consider:
▪ Print
out spreadsheets and keep them in a 3-ring binder. You can also store the data on your computer or a cloud space like Google
Docs. Click here if you’re using this option.
▪
Use a free online tracker that you can find on the sites fitday.com, myfitnesspal.com, and sparkpeople.com.
▪
If you’re using
a fitness tracker, use its corresponding website or app to track your food. Speaking of fitness trackers, you really need one. It can be a wearable tracker or an app on
your phone (if you are always carrying it).
To Sum it Up
That’s it. Week 1 is all about collecting information.
Don’t discount or skip this step. You may want to jump in with both feet, starve yourself into submission, try out the
latest fad diet—anything to see the scale move downward. And you may find some success—at least initially. But
being successful with weight loss surgery is all about the small daily behaviors that shape your metabolism, your weight and
your well-being. We’ll get there. We will build on all the things that you are already doing right and make some tweaks
along the way. By the end of the eight weeks, you’ll be feeling more confident about this lifelong process of moving
beyond complacency to reach your health goals.
Successful people are simply those with successful
habits. --Brian Tracy
